Honey (2003 film)

Honey is a 2003 American dance film directed by Billie Woodruff. It stars Jessica Alba, Mekhi Phifer, Romeo Miller, Joy Bryant, and David Moscow, with a cameo by Missy Elliott and featured performances by Tweet, Jadakiss, Ginuwine, and Blaque.

Plot
Honey Daniels works as a bartender, a record store clerk and a dance teacher at a NYC community center run by her mother. She wants to become a hip hop choreographer, though her mother presses her to teach ballet uptown.

Honey and her rival Katrina are recorded having a dance off. She and her friend Gina find brothers Benny and Raymond street dancing and invite them to her classes.

The dance-off video reaches video director Michael Ellis, who hires Honey as a backup dancer and later as a choreographer. Her career brings money and fame, but takes her away from the center and the neighborhood kids.

After Benny gets into a fight, Honey hires him as her assistant to keep him out of trouble. She convinces Michael to hire her students as dancers in Ginuwine's new video. Honey begins dating Raymond's barber Chaz, who inspires her to prioritize her happiness over fame. She puts down a deposit on an old store she can turn into a dance studio.

Michael insists Honey go with him to an "important meeting," causing her to cancel the birthday trip with Gina. The meeting turns out to be a networking party, where Michael drunkenly hits on her. She slaps him and leaves. Gina is furious to see a photo of Honey at the party. At the Ginuwine shoot, Michael fires Honey, replacing her with Katrina.

The kids are heartbroken. Benny returns to drug dealing, gets arrested and lands in juvy. Visiting him, Honey offers to help him only to be insulted and belittled. Before leaving, she asks Benny how often his gangster friends have visited him, which causes him to reconsider his life choices.

Gina eventually forgives Honey, and encourage her to trust in herself. As Honey's income dries up due to Michael's influence in the industry, she is unable to pay the remainder of the store's down payment, which will soon go back on the market. Honey decides to hold a dance benefit and newly-released Benny brings his dance friends to help, teaching them some moves he learned while in juvy.

Michael pushes Katrina as choreographer for a Missy Elliott video, but Missy prefers Honey. Michael begs Honey to come back, offering to buy her the studio. Honey rejects his offer, realizing that she is noticed by artists and can stand on her own feet.

Gina's bank manager asks arts donors to attend the benefit, which is a full house and everyone is enthusiastic about the performances. Honey's mother sees that the dance form her daughter loves can give her everything that ballet could. The bank manager assures Honey the building is fully funded.

Missy Elliott arrives as the benefit finishes, rushing in to meet Honey. She introduces Honey to the R&B group Blaque at her new dance studio, The Bronx Dance Center, to prepare their new video.

Cast

 * Jessica Alba as Honey Daniels, a hip-hop choreographer
 * Mekhi Phifer as Chaz, a barber, Honey's boyfriend
 * Romeo Miller (credited as Lil' Romeo) as Benny
 * Joy Bryant as Gina, Honey's best friend
 * David Moscow as Michael Ellis, a music producer
 * Lonette McKee as Mrs. Connie Daniels, Honey's mom
 * Zachary Isaiah Williams as Raymond, Benny's brother
 * Laurie Ann Gibson as Katrina, Honey's rival

A number of popular hip hop and R&B musicians, groups and producers play themselves in prominent cameos, including Missy Elliott, Jadakiss, Sheek Louch, Shawn Desman, Ginuwine, Rodney Jerkins, 3rd Storee, Tweet, and Blaque.

Production
The film is inspired by the life of choreographer Laurieann Gibson, who was the film's choreographer and appeared on screen as Katrina, the main character's rival. Singer/actress Aaliyah was reportedly originally cast as Honey, though the role was later recast to Jessica Alba due to Aaliyah's death in August 2001. However, in 2020, director Bille Woodruff debunked the rumor, stating: "That’s incorrect. It was supposed to be Beyoncé. That’s been widely reported but it’s incorrect, [Beyoncé] couldn’t do it because of her touring schedule for her first album Dangerously in Love."

Critical response
Honey was released to mostly negative reviews. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 21% based on reviews from 116 critics, with an average rating of 4.20/10. The critical consensus reads, "An attractive Jessica Alba and energetic dance numbers provide some lift to this corny and formulaic movie". Metacritic, based on 30 reviews, gives the film a score of 37 out of 100, signifying generally unfavorable reviews.

A. O. Scott of The New York Times was one of the critics to give the film a positive review, noting that it "brings out the wholesome, affirmative side of the hip-hop aesthetic without being overly preachy, although it will not impress anyone with its originality."

Box office
The film opened at #2 at the U.S. box office, earning US$12.9 million in its opening weekend, behind The Last Samurai. The final box office was $30.3 million in the U.S. and Canada and $31.9 million in other countries, for a total of $65.3 million worldwide.

Music
A soundtrack containing hip hop, R&B, funk and disco music was released on November 11, 2003 by Elektra Records. It peaked at #105 on the Billboard 200 and #47 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts.

Sequels
Bille Woodruff, the director of Honey, also directed three sequels, the theatrically released Honey 2 (2011) and two straight-to-video sequels Honey 3: Dare to Dance (2016) and Honey: Rise Up and Dance (2018), each with different casts.